New STEM academy coming to Marshall High School
At full capacity, program is projected to enroll 400 students
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20130703/NEWS/130709647/1117/new-stem-academy-coming-to-marshall-high-school&template=fairfaxTimes

Marshall High School’s Marshall Academy will launch a new STEM program beginning this fall. The school recently gained the state Board of Education’s approval for a proposed Governor’s science, technology, engineering and math academy. “Really, it was just up to us to take the initiative,” said Marshall Academy Administrator Jeff McFarland. “We have a very strong IT program… But we really want to get into the cyber security field.”

Marshall Academy plans to offer new courses in cyber security, Cisco healthcare, STEM advanced engineering and robotics, and geospatial systems. For the 2013-14 school year, the academy plans to admit some 150 students into new governor’s STEM academy. At full capacity, the academy is projected to enroll some 400 students, grades nine through 12.

“[At] Marshall High School, we’re undergoing a $50 million renovation. So now’s the time [to begin new programming],” McFarland said. “We’re getting new labs, new classrooms.”

The renovations will mean added space for the academy, which receives about 950 applications for about 800 seats, McFarland said.

Governor’s STEM academies aim to expand opportunities for students to gain literacy in STEM fields while earning industry credentials, according to Fairfax County Public Schools.

The Virginia Board of Education approved three STEM academies during a business meeting June 27 in Richmond. The other two academies were approved in Harrisonburg City Public Schools and Montgomery County Public Schools. There are currently 19 Governor’s STEM Academies operating in Virginia, which includes those located in Arlington, Carroll, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Halifax, Loudoun, New Kent, Pulaski, Richmond, Roanoke, Russell, and Stafford counties and the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Lynchburg, Newport News, Richmond, and Virginia Beach.

“[The STEM academy] is meant to give students a really full and rewarding experience so that if students go out and take a summer class at Carnegie Mellon [University’s summer academy in Pittsburgh], they can come back to us and take a class on that [similar subject].”

For more information on Marshall Academy, visit www.fcps.edu/MarshallAcademy.

So Dale hands out another treat to one of his favorites.

This shold have gone into a high poverty school instead.

must be nice Wrote:
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> So Dale hands out another treat to one of his
> favorites.
>
> This shold have gone into a high poverty school
> instead.

Yep

For that part of the county, Marshall is pretty ratchet. That's why FCPS sticks IB and Academy courses there.

Marshall is the highest performing IB school in FCPS-they don't need any help.

Put it in Annandale or Mt Vernon instead.

Those schools are hanging by a thread.

Annandale doesn't have the room. Falls Church has the capacity, but the place is far down on the rehab list. Plus people from Langley, McLean and Oakton who couldn't get their kids into TJ are not going to send them to Falls Church.

La Garza Wrote:
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> For that part of the county, Marshall is pretty
> ratchet. That's why FCPS sticks IB and Academy
> courses there.

First, let's clear up a misconception.

In proper usage of the English language, "ratchet" cannot be used as an adjective. It can only be used as a noun. It is a TOOL, or an alternative name for a musical instrument.

Second- I agree. Marshall is in a relatively poor section of a very wealthy area.

_____________
We are all Eesh.

So if this is the stem academy,where is the bud academy?

They need to have classes on how to sign up for welfare and food stamps. It will prove useful in the future to many of the students.

The facts|

1. Marshall applied to be a STEM academy, it was not something given to the school.

2. Marshall is one of the top performing schools in the county across multiple measures.

3. Many Langley, Madison, McLean, and Falls Chirch students choose to come to Marshall for the IB which was previously identified as the strongest in the county.

must be nice Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So Dale hands out another treat to one of his
> favorites.
>
> This shold have gone into a high poverty school
> instead.


If it was put in a high poverty school, all the high tech equipment like computers, Cisco routers, etc, would get stolen.

Gotta love the course selection..

What exactly is engineering for women?

must be nice Wrote:
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> So Dale hands out another treat to one of his
> favorites.
>
> This shold have gone into a high poverty school
> instead.


Why?

This academy is designed for kids who may not go to college but will learn valuable job skills, idiot.

Why not put that program at a school that needs it and doesn't send 90% of their kids off to 4 year colleges?

I guess the kids at Mt vernon and Annandlae are too stupid to understand computers and networking.

Let's make them HVAC and auto repair guiys instead.

THIS IS RACIST!

It's TJ for retards! Yay! Maybe now the NAACP hate-group can stop attacking TJ!

Marshall is middle of the pack in the county. Not even in the top 10 in FCPS per the latest US News report, and definitely not as good as Langley, Madison or McLean. No one really makes much of an effort to live in the Marshall district, and it's still full of cretins from Pimmit Hills, but it's probably better than living off Route 1 and getting stuck at Mount Vernon. Maybe the new courses will make them feel less lame.